Lambda Alpha Award Applications Now Being Accepted
Applications are now being accepted for the annual Lambda Alpha senior scholarships and graduate student research grants. The application deadline is March 1, 2023. The Lambda Alpha National Scholarship and Graduate Research Grants application guidelines are posted in the link below. This year Lambda Alpha will award three senior scholarships: 1st ($5,000), 2nd ($3,000) and 3rd place ($2,000). Lambda Alpha will also award $12,000 in graduate research grants for a total of $22,000 in awarded funds.
We encourage chapter sponsors to submit nominees: one senior nominee per chapter for the Scholarship and one graduate student nominee per chapter for each of the three sub-disciplines (a total of three nominees per chapter by subdiscipline) in archeology, biological/physical anthropology, and cultural/linguistic anthropology. All applicants must be anthropology majors. The awards usually have limited applicants but are a sizable award. A well-qualified candidate has a reasonable chance to win.
Lambda Alpha Awards Application 2023
Academic Year 2021-2022 Lambda Alpha Newsletter Now Available
The annual Lambda Alpha newsletter is now available.
Please click on the link below to download a pdf copy
Lambda Alpha Newsletter 2021-2022
Congratulations to the 2021-2022 AY Lambda Alpha Awards Winners
The Lambda Alpha Executive Council congratulates the winners of the 2021-2022 Lambda Alpha awards. The council also thanks the student society members and faculty sponsors for the national scholarship and graduate research grant applications that were received in 2022. In 2022 a total of $22,000 was awarded to student chapter members that participated in the scholarships and grants competitions. Additional information about the awards recipients is featured in the 2021-2022 newsletter. The application deadline for the 2023 scholarships and research grants is March 1, 2023. A deadline reminder will be sent to chapter faculty sponsors in January 2023.
Recipients of the XLVII Lambda Alpha Senior Scholarships
1st Place
Brooke McGuire
Miriam Belmaker Ph.D., Faculty Sponsor
University of Tulsa (Alpha of Oklahoma)
$5000
2nd Place
Hannah Hudson
Kathryn Hudepohl, Ph.D., Faculty Sponsor
Western Kentucky University (Alpha of Kentucky)
$3000
3rd Place
Sarah Manassee
Anna Warrener, Ph.D., Faculty Sponsor
University of Colorado Denver (Zeta of Colorado)
$2000
Lambda Alpha Graduate Research Grants Recipients
$2,000 per award
Archaeology
Kristy Escalante
Tulane University (Beta of Louisiana)
Looting and Lidar: An Analysis of Illicit Digging in the Maya Region using Airborne Laser Scanning
David Ingleman
University of California, Santa Cruz (Alpha Gamma of California)
Multispecies Discipline and Enjoyment: A Socio-Historical Anthropology and Zooarchaeology of Hawai’i, ca. 1840-1893 C.E.
Katharine Woollen
University of Nevada, Las Vegas (Alpha of Nevada)
A Social Autopsy of Female and Subadult Health Disparities at the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery
Cultural Anthropology
Mohammed Baten
University of Maine (Alpha of Maine)
The Entanglement of Institutions, Market, and Livelihood: Governing Sundarbans Mangrove in the Neoliberal Era
Aklilu Reda
University of Kentucky (Delta of Kentucky)
Ethiopian Diasporic Cuisine: Food, Identity, and Transnational Lifeways of Ethiopian Migrants in Atlanta
Biological Anthropology
Renee Boucher
University of California, Santa Cruz (Alpha Gamma of California)
The Application of Transitional Metals to Hominid Physiology and Behavior
Katharine Woollen
University of Nevada, Las Vegas (Alpha of Nevada)
A Social Autopsy of Female and Subadult Health Disparities at the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery
National Office News
Congratulations!
Lambda Alpha’s 50th Anniversary, 1968-2018
March 2018 marked the 50th anniversary of Lambda Alpha. The society was founded in March 1968 by Darrell Casteel, an anthropology student at Wichita State University. Please see the History and Archives web page for a brief summary of the society’s history. To celebrate Lambda Alpha’s 50th golden anniversary, several commemorative initiatives were implemented in 2018.
More Scholarships and Grants Since 2018
The primary purpose of Lambda Alpha is to recognize and reward academic excellence among anthropology students. Consequently, an expanded number of scholarships and grants from four annually in previous years (ca. $10,000 total) to twenty-three awards were distributed in 2018, totaling $30,000. Three undergraduate senior scholarships ($5,000 each), six graduate student research grants ($2,000 each), and $3,000 in student paper prizes (14 total prizes) were awarded in 2018.
50th Anniversary
Lambda Alpha Founder’s
Student Paper Competition
In addition to the annual scholarship and grant awards, a 2018 student paper competition was sponsored by the society, called the 50th Anniversary Lambda Alpha Founder’s Student Paper Competition. The purpose of the paper competition is to recognize the dedication of past students, faculty, and chapter staff over the past half-century that have supported Lambda Alpha through their membership, mentorship, and assistance. The paper competition offered $3,000 in fourteen paper prizes and features both an undergraduate and graduate student awards category.
New Lambda Alpha Merchandise
In addition to a larger number of awards in 2018, a new line of Lambda Alpha merchandise is now being offered. Featuring the Lambda Alpha logo, the new merchandise consists of t-shirts and baseball-style caps. Graduation regalia stoles and pins are also still available from the society. See the Merchandise page on the society’s web site for further details.
New Virtual Office, Administrative Coordinator, and Contact Information in 2018
Since 1985 the Lambda Alpha National Office was located in the Department of Anthropology at Ball State University. To reduce operating costs and increase funding for student awards, the Lambda Alpha National Office left Ball State in December 2017. The Lambda Alpha National Office has since adopted a virtual office format. In addition to the new virtual office format, the society has also developed a new web page. The web page has a simple web address, is designed to have a visitor-friendly navigation format, and is intended to encourage communication with anthropology students and faculty sponsors. The new web page address is laanthro.org. The society’s new email address is laanthro@gmail.com. Melanie Cabak, a historical archaeologist with an M.A. degree in anthropology from the University of South Carolina (1991), replaced Barb Di Fabio as administrative coordinator for the society. Barb retired in December 2017. The Lambda Alpha Executive Council members thank her for her twenty years of service to the society from 1997 to 2017. The new office address information is listed on the Contact page of the society’s web site.
2019 Chapter Directory
The 2019 chapter directory is posted on the Contact site page. If faculty sponsors have chapter address or contact information updates or corrections, please send them to the national office via email: laanthro@gmail.com, subject line Directory.
In the News
See the news links below for current anthropology news items.
Web site editor: Mark Groover
Last site update September 13, 2019
laanthro.org 